A Sign of Commitment
by Epikoinos
Summary: An eventful evening in the life of Daine and Numair. Bedrolls need dusting, a cat needs de-greening, Kitten needs saving and an opal needs to be moved. Set during First Test. Written for the Yuletide fic exchange.


"We really need to change that nameplate on the door," Numair Salmalín said as he walked in through said door.

Daine smiled up at her lover from the floor, where she was rolling up a bedroll. She'd heard different variations of this complaint for almost a year now. On the day she moved in to her former teacher's palace quarters, Numair had quickly and magically added her name to the bronze plate on his, now their, door. The plate read _Numair Salmalín_ in large, slanting, letters right in the middle. Below it, _Veralidaine Sarrasri _was crammed in with smaller and clunkier letters.

"It's just temporary," Numair had said then, but he'd never gotten around to getting a new plaque. He always forgot about it as soon as it was out of his sight.

As far as she was concerned, Daine was happy to leave the nameplate as it was for now. Numair's name was magically protected, but hers wasn't. If she moved out now, Numair could just run his finger over the bronze and it'd be like her name never had been there. Or maybe he'd accidentally melt the whole plate down, magic protection or no. She smiled at the thought.

Numair smiled back at her as he crouched down to help her with the bedroll. Five sparrows hopped out of his way as he did so, cheeping at him.

They were packing for this year's Rider training camp in fief Olau. Daine and Numair had planned to leave for it with Buri and Queen Thayet a little more than a week ago, but they'd been held back when Numair's latest experiment took an explosive turn. This was a disastrous development for the experiment, but when it came to the postponing of their trip they weren't all that saddened by it. It just meant that they'd get a few days on the road all to themselves, just like in the good old days.

They took care of their packing themselves, as they did most things. Daine didn't like having servants around, and Numair was infamous for chasing off housekeepers who disturbed his sensitive magical equipment. In any case most servants felt uncomfortable working with the realm's most powerful mage and a demigod.

"Anything new gone wrong in the Isolatorium, or can we leave tomorrow?" Daine asked.

Numair was, as always, happy to discuss his magical explorations.

"No, everything seems to be fine. I think we can try to move another opal today," he said. "We don't want to risk any more of them exploding, so we believe it's best if we ease it into it this time. Holding them immediately against Jewel is obviously not the way to go."

"Obviously." Daine replied. Even after three intense healing sessions Numair _still _had faint scars in his face from the opal shards that'd hit him. "So what will you do instead?"

"Jon has an idea he thinks might work," Numair said in an excited voice. "He's moved the Dominion Jewel from its usual place, and we'll put one of the opals there instead. There'll be some magical residue from the Jewel left there. We hope that will give the opal a chance to get used to the Jewel's power. Then hopefully it won't explode when we try to transfer some of the Jewel's magic into it."

"That sounds sensible," Daine said. After years surrounded by mages she knew more about regular magic than most people without the Gift. "So where does Jon keep the Jewel?"

"Well… there's the rub. He keeps it in a cabinet in the royal quarters, so moving the opal there will be a challenge… actually, maybe you can help with that? Your magic won't disturb them. Er, I think. No one has ever tried anything like this before."

"Hmm, yes, I think you've mentioned that no one has done this before, once or twice… a day," Daine teased. "But yes," she continued, "of course I'll try to help you."

"Thank you, sweet," Numair said with a smile as he tied up the bedroll.

Daine tossed the tied up roll onto their bed. The bed's inhabitants replied with annoyed cheeps, meows and a loud trill. The trill came from Kitten, who'd been woken up from a nap by the thump of the bedroll.

"Oh, sorry Kit," Daine said. She paused to scratch the young dragon on her chin.

Daine went over to the open window and shook out the other bedroll. She and Numair had just started to fold it when Kitten gave a soft "coo" and blew air through her nostrils. Dust flew in a great puff from the roll, covering Daine and Numair. They looked at each other, blinking wildly, and then both turned their eyes on the dragonet.

"Since when can she…" Numair began, but then he got dust in his mouth and started to cough.

His coughs turned into laughing, and soon Daine joined in. They laughed so hard they had to sit down on the floor again, to calm themselves down. Kitten made an annoyed sound at them. It was clear that she'd expected praise rather than laughing hysterics.

"Yes, Kit," Daine said between gasps for air, "that's a very good spell, and you're very clever to have come up with it. Let's just take the rest of the things that need dusting _outside _before you use it again, all right?"

* * *

><p>The three of them left a small mountain of dust behind them when they left the court yard a while later. Numair went to the kitchens to ask the cooks to prepare some provisions for their journey, while Daine and Kitten took their now completely dust-free stuff up to the rooms. Then Daine took some of their bags down to the stables, and she stayed to talk to Cloud and the other horses for a while.<p>

When she came back to the rooms she found one of the palace cats, Lucky, sitting in the middle of the floor, washing himself furiously. Daine could easily see what had brought on this hygiene frenzy – Lucky's fur had been turned _green_. Daine had no doubt in her mind about who the culprit behind this heinous crime was.

"Kitten!" she exclaimed. "What have you done now!?"

Neither trill nor rude noise came as a reply. Instead Lucky stopped licking at his paw long enough to say

_She climbed out the window._

Daine sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands.

"What happened?" she asked the cat.

_I ate some of her cheese_, Lucky began. _I didn't know it was hers, mind. It was just sitting there, in the middle of the room. I don't understand why she got so angry – it tasted horrible. I think she'd done some magicky thing to it. Anyway, she made a sound and I turned green and then we heard you coming and she climbed out the window._

Once he was done with his story he licked at his paw again.

"I don't think it'll wash off, sorry," Daine told him as she walked from the bed up to the open window.

She leaned out, but Kitten was nowhere to be seen. Dragons could be very quick when they wanted to. Daine turned back to Lucky again.

"I don't think I can do anything either," she said, "It's not _healing_ you need. But I can ask Numair to take a look at you once we've found that darned dragon, if you want."

Lucky agreed to stay behind. As Daine closed the door behind her she could see him through the crack. He was rubbing his paws on the carpet.

* * *

><p>Daine ran into Numair on her way down to the kitchens. He was absentmindedly taking bites off of a stump of salami as he muttered to himself about opals, but when Daine said that Kitten was missing he perked up. Daine told him about what had happened with Lucky as they went back down to the kitchens. Since the cooks stopped being scared of her Kitten had fallen into an unseemly habit of begging them for food. Daine thought she might be there to try to get some new cheese, but when they got to the kitchen she wasn't there.<p>

Together Daine and Numair went on to visit the usual suspects of harboring fugitive dragons, but Kitten was neither in Lindhall Reed's palace rooms, nor with Lady Oriane of Stacine, a young noblewoman who'd struck up a friendship with the young dragon. They were on their way to Tkaa the basilisk's office when a woman ran up to them with her skirts hoisted up to her thighs. Daine recognized her as Maeg, the servant responsible for the palace's poultry yards.

"Lady Daine!" Maeg panted, once she'd caught up with them.

Her panicked expression made Daine refrain from pointing out that she was no lady, as she usually would have done.

"What is it, Maeg?" she asked instead.

"It's your dragon, lady! It's gotten in with the geese somehow…"

"Oh no!" Numair said.

"Where?" Daine asked.

Maeg hoisted up her skirts again and said "Follow me!"

"What happened?" Daine asked as they ran outside and off towards the poultry yard.

"I don't know," Meag replied between pants. "We heard honking, and when we got out we saw the dragon in the geese pen. I've no idea how it got in there, and I don't know who I fear for the most – the geese or your dragon!"

When they arrived they saw that the geese – and Kitten – had somehow gotten out of the enclosure. Three panicked farm workers were trying to separate the dragon from the birds, but this only served to agitate the geese more. The birds moved closer together, pressing up against each other, but also against Kitten. The geese closest to the dragon were all snapping at her with their beaks. She responded with hisses and bared teeth. Her scales were a dark cerise, as if she couldn't decide whether she was more angry or more scared. At least it didn't seem like she'd bitten anyone yet. Daine thanked the Goddess.

Suddenly, as if on signal, the panicked geese started to rush down towards the poultry yard's pond. Kitten was dragged with them, stumbling and shrieking.

"No!" Daine screamed. "Stop! She can't swim!"

But the geese were too scared to listen to her, and now the first of them were getting into the water. Daine rushed after them towards the pond and was just about to throw herself into the water when it – disappeared.

On the former pond floor laid circa twenty confused geese and one dragon. The pond's water hovered about six feet above them in a large blob. The geese were too surprised to move, but Kitten quickly found her feet and jumped up into her foster mother's arms.

With Kitten safe in her arms, Daine looked behind her. Numair stood with his arms raised and concentration in his face. As he slowly lowered his arms, the water blob lowered as well.

At first the geese stared up at the lowering water mass, mesmerised, but once it got close enough to touch their outstretched beaks they fled back to their enclosure with renewed honks. Kitten leaned out of Daine's arms to hiss at them triumphantly.

Numair and Daine thanked Meag for coming to get them, but they didn't stay behind in the poultry yard. Their presence was still upsetting the geese, and Kitten wasn't all that calm either. She stayed in Daine's arms as they walked back to their rooms. After a while the dragon's scales started to turn from panic-pink to a greenish yellow; Kitten was embarrassed.

"What were you thinking!?" Daine scolded her. "Hiding with the geese!? You fluffbrain! And you _know_you're not allowed to climb the palace walls. It leaves ugly marks!"

"Go easy on her, love," Numair said gently. "She just almost drowned."

He reached out and took Kitten into his own arms instead. The young dragon nuzzled up to him and looked at her foster mother half baleful, half defiant. Daine's anger died away.

"Yes, you're right, love," she said. "I didn't mean to yell at you, Kitten, I'm sorry. You just scared me so! I'm not really angry with you… or well, I am, but I didn't mean to go yelling all over you. I'm sorry."

Kitten "coo"-ed an apology of her own.

"Well," Numair said in a brisk voice. "I've heard there's a green cat that needs recoloring. Maybe you can help with that, eh, Kit?"

Kitten nodded.

* * *

><p>After three trills in different notes (from Kitten) and two incantations (from Numair), Lucky had gone from green… to blue. Kitten, for her part, had turned purple with frustration. She gave a squawk, which only resulted in Lucky's blue fur getting a little more tufted. She stomped her feet in irritation. Lucky himself just stared down at his paws in resignation.<p>

"Well, I know one last thing we can try," Numair said reassuringly. He disappeared into his workroom, and woman, dragon and cat were left to listen to the sounds of him rummaging around in shelves and boxes. When he came out he was carrying two bottles and a small box.

"This here is beeswax that has been prepared to take on magic abilities," he explained as he opened the box. "And this," he shook one of the bottles, "is a tincture that removes magic. I got it to clean off any traces of magic from the opals that I'm using in my Dominion Jewel-experiment. It's made from elderberries, which removes bad energies, lemon juice…"

"What's in the other bottle?" Daine interrupted, before he got too far into lecture mode.

"What, this? Oh, this is distilled vinegar. I use it on spots on my white clothes, so I thought it couldn't hurt."

Numair poured what remained of the magic tincture and some of the vinegar into the beeswax. Then he mixed it together with his finger. Kitten trilled, and the wax shone with bright light for a moment.

"Ah, thank you Kit," Numair said. "Now I present to you the all new De-Blueing Ointment!"

Daine and Numair worked together to smear the ointment into Lucky's fur. Neither they nor Lucky particularly enjoyed the experience, but afterward only the slightest tinge of blue remained.

"Now, remember to not wash this off," Numair said. "The vinegar probably won't taste very good anyway. The magic will keep on working for a few days, so the last of the color will hopefully wear off in a day or so," Numair said to the almost white cat.

Lucky gave a soft meow.

"He says 'thanks'," Daine translated.

"It was my pleasure, master Lucky," Numair replied with a bow.

Lucky inclined his head and slunk out of the room. Numair turned to Kitten.

"As for you, young lady," he said, "you should be happy things turned out this well. But you know the punishment for things like this. There'll be no sweets for a week."

"And out on the road you won't even be able to beg from the cooks," Daine added.

Kitten made a rueful "phruu" in reply, but she didn't argue. Instead she climbed up on the bed to take another nap.

* * *

><p>"Well, that's over and done with," Numair said. "But I don't think it's dark enough to move the opal yet. What say you, shall we take some time out for a practice session?"<p>

Daine groaned as Numair went on.

"And don't think I'll let you slug off just because we'll be off training recruits. We can be their evening entertainment. Seeing one of their teachers fail at something ought to raise their spirits."

Daine stuck out her tongue at him, but she didn't argue. After all _she'd _asked _him _to teach her to juggle. Together they went outside to the palace's training grounds. Numair didn't trust her to juggle indoors just yet.

"All right, Jugglet, do you remember your stance?" Numair said in a teacherly voice.

"Jugglet!?" Daine replied incredulously.

Numair cleared his throat.

"It was supposed to be a pun on 'Magelet'…" he began.

Daine tried to suppress a giggle, but failed.

"Oh, just take your stance and focus on your hands," Numair retorted, but he was smiling too.

The rhyme made Daine giggle again, but she did as she was told. What followed was almost an hour of Daine failing to catch her juggling balls while Numair juggled blindfolded or while doing somersaults. At least the pages were already off to _their _summer training camp and weren't there to watch them. The eighteenth time Daine dropped a ball she threw the other two to the ground with a growl.

"It's too dark!" she exclaimed, never mind that Numair always said that she shouldn't need to watch the balls anyway.

Numair caught all his seven clubs in his arms and turned to her.

"I think you're right," he said as he walked over to her. When he reached her he dropped the clubs on the ground and took her hands in his.

"My most lovely Veralidaine," he said, squeezing her hands.

Daine winced at the formality of the words. She had a guess about what was coming.

"I've asked this before, and I'll happily to ask it a thousand times more. Will you marry me?"

His eyes twinkled. Daine smiled up at him.

"I say, it's been a while since you did that. I thought you'd finally had given up on making me an honest woman," she said.

"I most _definitely_ have not," Numair replied, tweaking her nose. Then he grew more serious.

"I had all this finery planned for our anniversary, but then I thought it might put too much pressure on you to ask you then. I don't want you to feel obligated to say 'yes' just because I made a big romantic gesture. So I thought I'd ask you now. You still haven't answered, you know…"

His voice trailed off. His lips looked very kissable.

"Well, it'd be fair silly to say yes now if it means I'll miss out on 'big romantic gestures' in the future, wouldn't it?" Daine said. Then she reached up to kiss him.

Some time later Numair broke the kiss.

"I think this is as dark as it will be this close to the palace," he said. "It's time to try to move the opals, don't you think? Jon's probably waiting for us already."

Daine would have been happy to keep kissing, but she wasn't one to shirk her duty to King and country. If an opal needed moving, she'd move the opal!

* * *

><p>They went up to their rooms to leave the juggling things and anything magical they had on them. Even the weakest magical aura could upset the careful balance of the opals.<p>

Daine unclasped her bracelet. It was a thin gold chain with an oval locket, a counterpart of the magic focus with her hair and portrait that Numair wore. Hers really was just a lover's token, but Numair had put some protective spells on it, so she had to take it off. Being without it made her feel naked. She'd only been wearing it for a few months now, so it surprised her that it'd already become such an important part of her identity. Her hand went up to the silver chain around her neck.

"Do you think I have to take off the Claw?" she asked Numair.

"Hm. I honestly don't know. I don't think it's magical per se, but it certainly does have a strong presence. I can see it from here."

"Oh," Daine replied, surprised. "How does it look?"

"What, you mean I've never told you? It has this silvery sheen. It lights up your hair in a very pretty way. But yes. I think it's probably best to take it off."

If Daine had felt naked without her bracelet it was nothing to how she felt without the Badger's claw. As she and Numair walked to the palace's east wing, where the Isolatorium was situated, she was constantly aware of the _lack of _a light weight around her neck.

When they got to the Isolatorium someone was indeed waiting for them, but it wasn't the king.

"Tkaa!" Daine called out in surprise.

Tkaa the basilisk bowed, making a gracious sweep with the hand that held his long tail.

"Good evening, Veralidaine, Numair," he said in his whispery voice.

Numair bowed back.

"And good evening to you too, Tkaa," he said. "May I ask what brings you here? Nothing has happened to Jon, I hope?

"No, the king is fine, and sends his apologies for not being here. There was an urgent message from the Yamani islands. Something about an earthquake, I believe. Jonathon only just had time to inform me of your project before he called an urgent meeting. He hoped that my expertise in mineralogy might be of help."

"It very well might," Numair said. "Thank you for being here. Has the way to the royal bedroom been prepared?"

"It has. Shall we enter?"

"No, wait!" Daine said. "I need to take my shoes off first."

She sat down on the floor to do so. When her feet were completely bare she turned her soles into cat pads so she could walk more quietly. The smallest sound could put their whole endeavor at risk. Numair took off his shoes as well, but he kept his socks on for a similar effect. Then he dimmed the lights in the corridor outside the Isolatorium. Tkaa opened the door to the Isolatorium, and the three of them walked in.

The room was completely dark but for the soft light that came in through the doorway. Daine had never been in the Isolatorium before, so she changed her eyes to those of an owl and took a look around. The room was used for only the most sensitive magical experiments. Lindhall Reed had told her that they had _three _rooms like this out at the University.

The walls were built so that no light or sound could get in through them. This feat was all the more impressive because there was no magic used to accomplish it. In each of the corners of the room stood a pillar with a large polished hematite stone on it. Daine guessed that they were there to absorb any magic that got into the room despite all the other precautions.

In the middle of the room stood a large stone basin filled with water. Daine walked up to it. On the bottom, about two feet down, laid two black opals. Even in the darkness of the room she could see faint glimmers of red and green playing across their surfaces. She tucked up her sleeves and put her arms down into the basin, chewing her lip so she wouldn't cry out from the icy coldness of the water. She let her hands stay human – no other animal was better at carefully picking things up and holding them. She grabbed one of the opals and slowly brought it up into the air. Before they left the Isolatorium Daine turned her ears into bat ears, so that she could hear any sounds that might disturb the opal she was carrying.

Tkaa walked first, carefully opening doors and pointing out possible obstacles. Daine went in the middle, holding the opal and trying not to imagine stumbling. Numair came last, ready to rush forward if anything were to happen with the gemstone. This way they slowly made their way to the royal bedchambers.

It was an odd thing to walk through the dark, deserted halls. Thanks to her bat ears Daine could pick up faint sounds of human activity in other parts of the building, but she still felt eerie. She could only imagine what it felt like for Numair; it must be as if the whole palace had been abandoned.

The doors to the royal quarters had already been opened for them when they arrived. Daine couldn't help to look around her curiously. Not many people were allowed into the bedroom of Tortall's sovereign rulers. And it was a truly magnificent room. Large windows in gilded frames were now covered up with drapes that didn't let in one spot of light. The floor was covered in a soft green carpet, and in the middle of the room stood the bed. It was virtually gigantic, and with its deep blue coverings and huge bedposts it was almost imposing.

Against the wall opposite the bed stood the cabinet on carved lion's paws. It was made of a wood that almost looked golden, and it had glass windows in the doors so one could see what was inside. Which was – practically nothing except for a velvet pillow with an impression in the middle of it. Daine supposed she should have expected it to be empty, but it was still a bit disappointed. It would have been interesting to see what Jon's and Thayet's most priced possessions were, other than the Dominion Jewel.

Tkaa opened the doors to the cabinet with a small creek that made all three of them stiffen nervously, but the opal seemed to be fine. But when Daine lowered her hands to put the opal down on the red velvet pillow, it suddenly started to shine with a multicolored light. Then it got very hot, very quickly. In the shock from the burn Daine let out a yelp and dropped the opal down on the pillow. The sound set off the opal even more, and it started to shoot out sparks in red, green, yellow and purple. Then everything happened very rapidly.

Numair rushed forward, got his arms around her and pushed her away and down to the floor as sparks rained down over them. Tkaa took cover behind on of the cabinet doors, and to Daine's surprise he started to… hum. He went to three different notes that he hummed softly as if to soothe a baby. And, even more surprising, it actually seemed to soothe the opal. It stopped shooting out sparks, and the light shining out of it dimmed. As Numair helped Daine back to her feet and out of the room, Tkaa reached in to stroke the opal softly.

Daine sat down on the floor of the hallway outside the royal bedroom and started to blow on her burned hands. Through the doorway she could see Tkaa throw a large cloth over the cabinet. Then he went out after them, and together he and Numair pushed the large gates shut, as silently as they could.

"The opal should be safe, for now," Tkaa said in a voice even more whisper-like than usually. "I managed to calm it down. I'm not sure that this plan to make it absorb the Dominion Jewel's power will work in the end, but I'd be very happy to keep helping. And maybe get a taste of the opal if it doesn't work?"

Daine couldn't help smiling at that last part.

"Thank you, Tkaa," she said, her own voice hushed as well. "I don't know what'd have happened without you."

"I have some idea," Numair said darkly.

He looked down on Daine's hands.

"Oh _sweetling_," he said. "I'm so sorry I brought you through this. Do you need to see a healer?"

"No, I'm fine," Dane replied, in what might have been a bit of an overstatement. "Have youeven noticed that _you_ have gotten burned yourself?"

"Oh. No, I haven't noticed."

"We'll most like be fine with just Ma's salve," Daine said with a wince of pain. "But I'd rather have it as soon as I can."

"Yes, let's get back to our rooms," Numair replied.

Then he turned to Tkaa.

"You have my thanks as well," he said. "You'll have to explain what you did some other time. Maybe in a letter to the Rider's training camp?"

Tkaa inclined his head. "I can do that. Sleep well, and safe travels, my friends."

"Good night, Tkaa."

* * *

><p>Since Numair didn't have any burns on his palms he put ointment on Daine first. The hurt on her hands went away almost immediately, and soon the redness was gone as well. Numair had mostly gotten burns on his back from when he protected Daine from the sparks, so Daine smoothed ointment on his shoulders. When she was done, Numair turned on the bed until he faced her. She leaned in to kiss him, but was interrupted by a loud "tweeep" from the bedpost above. It seemed a quarrel had broken out between a blackbird and a sparrow, but now they looked down at Daine and Numair all innocently.<p>

"Shall we get some privacy…?" Numair asked in a husky voice that made Daine shiver all over.

"If you're gonna sound like that I think we have to," she replied. That made him smile sheepishly instead, which detracted a bit from the former effect.

Daine rose from the bed and looked around the room.

"All right, everybody," she said, putting an extra ounce of magic into her voice. "Shoo, all of you! Yes, that means you too, Kit. You know the deal; we'll let you back in when it's time to sleep. Now scoot!"

Out the door flew, walked and crawled a small troop of different animals. Daine closed the door behind them, but she didn't lock it. Locking it only meant that Kitten would trill it open to show that she could.

Daine turned back to the bed.

"Now, where were we?" she asked cheekily.

* * *

><p>Some time later, Daine was close to dozing off. Kitten and the animals had returned, and Daine had a purring cat on her feet, two squirrels on her pillow, a stoat tucked under her arm and Numair's fingers in her hair, twirling it.<p>

"Don't do that," she reproached him in a sleepy voice. "It'll get all tangled." Her words were somewhat undercut by the way she pressed her head toward his hands when he pulled away.

To retaliate, Daine burrowed her nose in his long, perfumed hair, turning it into a wolf snout. There was no smell she liked better than Numair's, and she loved the soft blackness of his hair.

"That tickles, wolf girl," Numair said.

He propped himself up on is elbow and smiled down at her. She smiled back, and reached up to tweak his nose the way he often did to her. That made his smile broaden. Daine reached out and ran her fingers through his hair. Then a thought struck her mind, and she let him go.

"You know what?" she said.

"No, sweet, what?" Numair replied, nudging her chin with his nose, trying to sneak in a kiss after all.

Daine pulled away a bit and looked at him seriously.

"Before we leave tomorrow, I'll go to a whitesmith. When we come back we'll have a shiny new nameplate for our door, magical protection and everything," she said. "How does that sound?"

"It sounds _fair _good," her lover replied.

Daine tweaked his nose again.


End file.
